A battle lasting over two years between drag show advocates and Texas A&M has led to a decision from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals against the university.
The ruling said that the plaintiffs had proven a “substantial threat of irreparable harm” to their First Amendment right to free speech because of the ban on drag shows.
‘These events often involve unwelcome and objectively offensive conduct based on sex for many members of the respective communities.’
FIRE, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, filed the lawsuit against Texas A&M on behalf of the Texas A&M Queer Empowerment Council when the board of regents banned drag shows across the system’s 11 campuses.
The group celebrated the latest decision on Monday.
“VICTORY! In a win for student expression on campus, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals today overruled a lower court’s decision, sided with FIRE’s clients, and blocked West Texas A&M University’s unconstitutional ban on drag shows,” the group said on social media.
The order allows drag shows to continue on the campuses as the litigation proceeds through the court system.
FIRE said the original ban was in response to a drag show that was raising charity funds to address suicide in the LGBTQ community. However, those funds would go to the Trevor Project, which has been criticized as an extremist activist group.
“State officials should stop trying to score political points at the expense of students’ First Amendment rights,” FIRE attorney Adam Steinbaugh said after a previous ruling that was reported by Blaze News.
A resolution from the university argued that the drag shows were an affront to the dignity of womanhood.
“Drag show events are likely to create or contribute to a hostile environment for women,” the resolution reads.
“These events often involve unwelcome and objectively offensive conduct based on sex for many members of the respective communities of the universities, particularly when they involve the mockery or objectification of women,” the university added.
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